‘Oud Taksim’ ~ Dunya & Haig Manoukian

‘Oud Taksim’ ~ Dunya & Haig Manoukian

'Oud Taksim' ~ Dunya & Haig Manoukian

'Oud Taksim' from Full Show 2007, Club West, Santa Fe, NM
Dunya, dance, & Haig Manoukian, oud

Dunya and Haig performed together for two decades in NYC and on Southwest tours.

“Considered one of the world’s finest oudists, Haig Manoukian worked with the top musicians of Turkey, Armenia, Egypt and Iran,” states his Circuit Productions bio. “He has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, Town Hall and Carnegie Hall, as well as at major cabarets in Istanbul, Europe and the U.S.A.”

Haig grew up in Virginia. As a child he heard oud music on 78 rpm recordings of Turkish sanat (“art”) music at the home of his grandparents, who were Armenian immigrants from Anatolia. He went on to listen to many records of traditional music from Istanbul and Anatolia and, in his late teens, moved to New York, where he soon found himself living in the middle of what was then a vibrant Middle Eastern music and dance scene on 8th Avenue between 27th and 30th Streets. He undertook formal music studies and started performing professionally in the 1970s. Over the years his music incorporated elements of jazz and music from Africa, India and Andalusia.

Haig, a brilliant oud player and master of improvisation, died on April 2, 2014, at the age of 72. – Kef Times

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